Circuit Plans

Preaching plans mainly record people who were local preachers and itinerant ministers. Women were sometimes indicated by initials only.

Plans provide evidence for when a chapel (or preaching place) in a particular place was in existence. They have also been used to explore working class history, and the social life of communities. See: William Leary, Methodist Preaching Plans: a guide to their usefulness to the historian (1977).

Chapels are organised in circuits, and a plan covers a whole circuit. The name of the circuit was often the largest nearby town.